WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Treasury Department said on Tuesday it plans the auction of warrants in The Harford Financial Services Group Inc.<HIG.N> and Lincoln National Corp.<LNC.N> over the next several weeks.
The Treasury said Deutsche Bank Securities Inc has been retained as the auction agent. The agency said the Dutch-style auction will provide additional returns to U.S. taxpayers from the government bailout of Wall Street.
The Treasury Department said the Hartford Financial Services Group warrant auction will involve 52 million shares with a strike price of $9.79 and an expiration of June 26, 2019. The Lincoln Financial Group auction involves 13 million shares with a strike price of $10.92 and an expiration of July 10, 2019.
"Each of these financial institutions has fully repurchased Treasury's preferred stock investment." the Treasury Department said in a statement.
The warrant sales represent the remaining Treasury holdings in the firms, the department said.
"The proceeds of these sales will provide an additional return to the American taxpayer from Treasury's investments in these financial institutions beyond the dividend payments it received on the related preferred stock," the Treasury said.
(Reporting by Donna Smith; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
